The name of the sales game is, “buy-in” and you being interesting and valuable enough so that your customers seek-you-out.

In a perfect world salespeople will much rather spend their valuable time working with in-bound opportunities as opposed to chasing them. But just because someone has made contact with you doesn’t necessarily make them the perfect opportunity.

People that seek-you-out are more likely to demonstrate deceptive behaviour regarding your offering. If you have read my new book, The Naked Salesman, or attended one of my sales training programs you would have heard me speak about the damaging effects that “crazy customers” impart on salespeople and businesses. These are people who pretend to be customers but, in fact, never will be. They dissolve time and distract you from giving attention and affection to your “real” and most valuable customers.

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The number of calls you make per sale depends on the level of buy-in your customer has.  The risk associated with what you are selling. And the approach you apply for each conversation.

Salespeople that go for the jugular on every call may get the odd quick win here and there, but more often than not a measured approach is more effective.

I have a saying, “Keep the lines tight!” My father is a mad fisherman and he taught me everything I know about fishing. One of my first lessons was always “keep the line tight”. This means when you get a fish on your line dont give it any slack to throw the hook.

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Well that depends on your definition of success.

There is a romantic notion in business that if my product and service is good enough, the business will basically take care of itself. This notion is incorrect. If anything a great product and service is just your starting point and ticket into the game.

Near where I live there is a great little Malaysian restaurant named DorBo. The food is priced reasonably and is always tasty and of quality. I’ve eaten a lot of Asian food over the years, (waste-line to prove it) as this chow is right up there. I go to this little restaurant to get takeaway dinner for my family and load-up on all things indulgent once every couple of weeks.

When I ring to place my order, I am always enthusiastically greeted by a small-framed, middle aged woman and the owner, whom I call “Mamma.” She is in her late 40’s or maybe even 50’s but looks not a day over 30.  She has beautiful skin with a youthful glow and is always bursting with personality. Her every sentence ending with the loving words, “ok darling.”

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In sales there can be confusion between what constitutes a “strategy” and a “solution”. However, there should be no ambiguity  regarding when each should be presented in your sales process.                                                      

What is a strategy? In simple terms ― the what.  The overall plan. The means to help the customer fulfil their needs or achieve their goals and aspirations.

What is a solution? The how. The doing phase. The vehicle used to implement the strategy. The detail.

Once the client’s need or goal has been agreed, it’s then up to the salesperson to identify the best potential strategies before recommending the most appropriate solution.

A discussion about the most relevant strategies and also broader strategies  (thinking beyond the scope) will help your customer  find “buy-in” and understand how they can move from their “current situation” to where they would like to be in the future; “desired outcome”.

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In business I meet plenty of salespeople who seem busy, but only a few who are truly effective.

The reality about busy salespeople is that most are unproductive in comparison to their time-to-output ratio, because the amount of actual value they create is limited by their available time spent per customer. 

The value you create multiplied by your available time will determine your output. A salesperson’s time is best spent on core activities that promote the most value per time spent to achieve maximum output.

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We all know how important getting a ‘yes’ is, but how important is the word ‘no’ in sales? For some companies the word ‘no’ is just as (if not) more powerful than a ‘yes’.

The number one killer of value in any sales model is time wasting and salespeople not knowing where and how to apply their time. I call this scenario ‘The Black Hole effect: lots of time going-in but nothing comes out, ever! By out, I mean productivity, tangible value, results and outcomes.

I have talked in past blogs about ‘Crazy Customers’ and their damaging effect on time management and sales-performance. The key to eliminating times wasters is to get comfortable with saying the word, “No.” As a salesperson you need to know your place; and that is in-front of customers. But not just any customers, the right customers! When I’m working with a sales team, I always look for ways the salespeople can maximise their time, value and output. The first place I start is in understanding where salespeople add most value and structuring their time more in that activity, and to create support structures around them to allow them to do so.

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